


mako falls off things while cass falls in love

by racheldawnamber



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Other, Secret Samol 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 03:16:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/racheldawnamber/pseuds/racheldawnamber
Summary: my secret samol piece for placentalmammal! happy new year!





	mako falls off things while cass falls in love

"Just hold still. I'm gonna do it on the count of three."

The medbay onboard the Kingdom Come was a lot more spartan than Cass might have liked, but luckily, today they didn't need any of the latest medical tech; the Chime had come back from the latest mission with little more than scrapes and bruises. Mako's shoulder was dislocated, but only because he'd tried to pull off a stunt on his hoverboard on the way back to the ship and fallen spectacularly badly.

"Is it gonna hurt?" Mako asked, and Cass narrowed their eyes ever so slightly with annoyance.

_ I'm pushing your arm back into its socket, of course it's going to hurt, _ they thought, before answering out loud, "Nope."

Mako narrowed his eyes suspiciously right back at Cass.

They ignored him and started counting- "One. Two." They replaced the bone with a single sharp jerk, and an unpleasant  _ pop _ confirmed their success, followed shortly by Mako's yelp.

"Ow! Hey! You said on three!" he exclaimed, incredulous at this betrayal.

"You would have tensed up on three and it would have hurt more," they explained dryly. "It's going to be sore for a while, so don't do any arm wrestling or-"

"Or jackin' off," Mako interjected helpfully.

"... I mean, that's probably fine? That wouldn't strain your shoulder, just your wrist," Cass supposed, before it occurred to them that they were giving a stupid joke far too much thought and said, "Do whatever, my job here is done. Take an aspirin if it hurts, and tell me if it hurts too bad to take an aspirin about."

"You're not even gonna prescribe ice?"

"Well, Mako, we keep that in the kitchen, not the medbay."

Mako rolled his eyes, then stretched and rolled his shoulder, scrunching up his face. "Ow."

"If you're good now, I'm going to go do something else."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for backstabbing my arm back into place," Mako said, not sounding particularly grateful. Before Cass could defend themself Mako stood up and immediately reeled, leaning over and holding his head in his hands while hissing through his teeth with pain.

Reflexively, Cass immediately began worrying- "Mako? Are you alright?" They placed their own hands over his and angled his head up, looking right into his eyes. Had he hit his head, too? If he'd been concussed they should have noticed by now, but-

"I must have overexerted myself, fogging during that last mission. My head is  _ killing _ me. I can't walk like this… you should carry me back." As he spoke, he leaned into Cass' arms, dramatically draping himself over him. It was with just as much melodrama that he slumped back against the wall when Cass pushed him back, now annoyed  _ and _ embarrassed that he'd fallen for Mako's display.

They were tempted to berate him, give him a lecture about why feigning injury was an awful idea and he oughtn't do it, but got a better idea that was more likely to leave an impression. They raised a hand to their ear and through the ship comms contacted Aria. "Could you do me a favor? I'm busy, but Mako is too desperately injured and exhausted to walk himself to his room and needs to be carried."

As Cass spoke, he watched Mako's face go from confused, to annoyed, and finally to defeated as he stood up and left the medbay.

"Ah, he's made a miraculous recovery. Never mind, then." They closed the comms and took a moment to lean back, sigh, and then set to tidying up the room before they left.

  
  
  


"So," Aria announced, only a few moments after the door shut behind Mako, walking out of the Kingdom Come's cozy excuse for a Mess Hall, leaving behind Cass and Aria as they picked at what was left of the takeout the team had picked up for dinner.

Personally, they preferred making their food to buying it, but it was a slow month for the Chime; their heart said 'home cooking', but their budget said 'sixty cent ramen cups'. Disinterestedly, they were slowly stirring the contents of a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon to match. But then Aria's voice, unexpectedly expectant, caused them to stop.

"So?" They raised an eyebrow.

"So, I've been trying to mind my own business, but I need to know." She clapped her hands together for emphasis before continuing. "What is the deal with you and Mako?"

"... I wasn't aware that there was a deal between me and him." They raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on. He's been throwing himself at you for a million years now, there's no way you haven't noticed."

"It definitely hasn't been a million years. And of course I have. I just don't see how that's relevant at this exact moment."

"It's as good a time to ask as any. And I think he's been doing it more lately. If he, hypothetically, might be building up to something more direct, I'm just curious how you'd respond."

She was being specific enough to make Cass suspicious. "... Did he tell you to ask me?"

"What? No!" She immediately denied it, then backpedaled just as quickly. "Well, sort of- he asked, but I said no. But  _ I _ still want to know!"

"There's nothing to know about," they insisted.

"You're really not even a  _ little _ sweet on him?" she replied skeptically, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"That's... completely irrelevant, since it's not as if I'd date another member of the crew anyways."

Aria desperately wanted to press them on the first point- if they were deflecting, they almost certainly did have feelings for Mako- but then the rest confused her. "Wait, why not?"

"What do you mean, why? You just don't  _ do _ that."

"We're four assorted weirdos on a ship, not an army. No one's going to give you grief for dating a coworker."

"That still doesn't mean it's a good idea! When your daily grind involves getting shot at, it's really not a good idea to have favorites, or breakups, or any of that. I really don't need to open that can of worms." They sat back and sighed.

Aria pursed her lips, taking a moment to formulate her reply. "... I think you're looking at this wrong, for a couple of reasons. First, forcing yourself to keep Mako at arm's length just so you can ignore whatever you feel about him is definitely a worse idea for the Chime in the long run than whatever damage a breakup would do. But secondly, this whole thing is dumb and you're being kind of dumb. No offense."

"None taken. Care to explain, or was that your whole point?"

She smiled good-humoredly. "Sure, that'll be number two. But number three is that we do a lot of dangerous stuff everyday that is definitely, objectively, a bad idea. You fly a dubiously legal retired war machine that could endanger Apostolosian foreign relations at the drop of a hat, and you're worried about  _ dating  _ being dangerous."

"Just because we already take risks doesn't mean I should pile on more for the sake of it," they argued, but didn't sound particularly convicted.

"But you also shouldn't try to pretend you're living a perfectly secure, reasonable, practical life," she replied, before standing up and shrugging. "It's your call at the end of the day, but if you want my advice, go for it. Life's too short to live safe."

Aria walked around the table between them to lean down and deliver a hug; Cass reached an arm up and begrudgingly conceded, "I'll consider that."

  
  
  


Despite the length and depth of their conversation, Aria had still failed to inform Cass of when or how Mako intended to press the issue, so they spent the next few days with a vague sense of trepidation about them.

And then Mako asked them over lunch, "Do you wanna watch a movie later? Like, after dinner later." Their nerves frayed much more rapidly over the next few hours.

Dinner had been tense and quiet- at least, it had been that way for Cass. The rest of the team's banter was still as lively as ever, just with their own conspicuous absence from it. And they were still struggling to make small talk as Mako picked the movie.

The Kingdom Come had a small, dusty, and kind of oppressive rec room, but it was better than nothing. A soft but worn secondhand sofa was facing a wall, where a bright screen scrolled through various titles.

"What about Shrek?" Mako suggested, glancing over to Cass from the other side of the couch.

"I didn't know you were into classic cinema."

"Oh, nah, I'm not, I just thought you might be," he shrugged, sprawling back onto the cushions.

Eventually, they both settled on a cooking show, and let a few long minutes pass in occupied silence only broken occasionally by sounds of fidgeting- usually Mako- or snorts of amusement at something that had happened onscreen from Cass.

But the fidgeting turned to squirming to shifting, until Mako sat up, hefted himself precariously onto the couch's armrest, and said, "If you want me to stop, just say the word and I will." He seemed upset, even apologetic, which came out of nowhere to Cass.

"It's fine, I don't mind the noise," he ventured, guessing that maybe Mako was apologizing for the fidgeting, though they didn't think they'd given him any reason to believe it bothered them.

"No, not that- I super wouldn't stop that, actually," he joked quickly as an aside before returning to his more serious tone, "I meant the flirting and stuff. I wasn't sure if you weren't flirting back because you're you, or because you're not interested, but we should probably- y'know- sort this out, since I don't want to be a jerk about it."

It took a moment for Cass to process, which they took to sit up and angle themself toward Mako for a proper conversation. "You think you've been bothering me?"

"I mean… maybe? You're very inscrutable. Which is why I'm asking."

"You're fine, don't worry," they assured Mako.

He seemed relieved somewhat, but immediately asked another question. "... So if it's not annoying, is it just tolerated, or welcome?"

"It's welcome," Cass replied plainly, but after a moment continued. "I enjoy your company, Mako. A lot. I'd like to enjoy more of it. I just get cold feet about this kind of thing because-"

"-because you can't plan your  _ feelings _ ," Mako finished for them, teasing them in good humor. He pulled a dreamy expression, gently placing a hand over his heart and leaning backwards slightly without thinking about it.

And without realizing until it was too late, he toppled backwards right off the arm of the sofa onto the floor of the ship.

"Son of a- OW, that HURT, why don't we have CARPET in here," he complained, taking a moment to languish on his back where he'd fallen, though Cass didn't give him long to stay down, jumping up immediately over to Mako's side of the sofa and extending a hand to pull him upright.

"You know, it's so hard to poke fun at you when you're always swooping in to help me like that," Mako remarked, not letting go of Cass' hand even after he was back on his feet.

"Well, you could try not falling off things."

"Oh, nah, I can't stop plunging headlong into danger now. The worried thing your face does is too cute."

"What thing does my face do?" Cass frowned, about to turn and find something reflective to see what Mako was referring to, but before they could, Mako's hands pressed down on their shoulders as he hefted himself up to kiss Cass.

It was a quick kiss- Mako didn't have it in him to pull Cass down to his level, unfortunately- but it had the desired effect, leaving them flushed, and then exasperated, once Mako replied, "That thing."

**Author's Note:**

> no proofreading we post first drafts at 10 minutes before midnight like men


End file.
